Assuring Food Safety and Quality:

Guidelines for Strengthening

National Food Control Systems

FAO and WHO, 2003

Outline
1. Preamble
2. Introduction
3. Important food issues
4. Elements of a national food control system
5. Strengthening national food control system
6. Specific issues of developing countries
In many countries, effective food
control is undermined by the
existence of
fragmented legislation,
multiple jurisdictions, and
weaknesses in surveillance,
monitoring and endorsement.
This guidelines seek to provide
advice to national authorities on
strategies to strengthen food
systems to
protect public health,
prevent fraud and deception, avoid
food adulteration and
facilitate trade.
Outline
1. Preamble
2. Introduction
3. Important food issues
4. Elements of a national food control system
5. Strengthening national food control system
6. Specific issues of developing countries
Challenges for food control
authorities
1. Increasing burden of foodborne illness
and new and emerging foodborne
hazards
2. Rapidly changing technologies in food
production, processing and marketing
3. Developing science-based food control
systems with a focus on consumer
protection
 Food safety - An international concern
WHO/OMS

Developing countries (WHO, 2004)

- Diarrhoea (foodborne or waterborne): 1.8 million deaths per year

Industrialized countries
up to 30% of the population gets diseased
up to 20 per million die

World wide (WHO, 2005)

1.8 - 3.1 billions cases of foodborne diarrhea
53 - 124 million cases of foodborne salmonellosis

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Challenges for food control
authorities
4. International food trade and need for
harmonization of food safety and quality
standards
5. Changes in lifestyles, including rapid
urbanization
6. Growing consumer awareness of food
safety and quality issues and increasing
demand for better information
Net exports by developing countries (US$ million)
2000

Rice

Meat

Tea

Banana

Rubber

Coffee

Fish

-5 0 5 10 15 20
Source: GLOBEFISH
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Globalisation of Trade :The World on your Plate
Salted butter- Ireland
garlic puree - China, USA, Spain
garlic salt - China, USA, Spain
Herb Butter :lemon - USA
parsley - France, UK
pepper - Indonesia
water - Ireland

Chicken Breast:Chicken - Ireland, Belgium

UK, France etc.
Batter: Flour - Belgium, France
Water - Ireland

Bread Crumb: Bread crumb - Ireland, UK

Chicken Kiev Rape-seed oil - EU, Australia
Eastern Europe

Courtesy A. Reilly, FSAI, Ireland

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b) BSE and vCJD potential spread (exports and travel)

Live Cattle
Bovine tissue
used in gelatine
Food containing beef

Pharmaceuticals
Human and bovine Blood and blood
tissue used in biologicals products

(arrows indicate regions involved in trade)

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c) Animal Markets

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Risk Communication in Perspective

Industry We are looking into it

There is a Problem and

this is the Actual Risk

Media THOUSANDS AT RISK

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Outline
1. Preamble
2. Introduction
3. Important food issues
4. Elements of a national food control system
5. Strengthening national food control system
6. Specific issues of developing countries
Important food issues
1. Food safety, quality and consumer
protection
2. Global consideration
Food safety
Refers to all those hazards, whether
chronic or acute, that make food
injurious to the health of the
consumer
Factors contribute to potential
hazards
Improper agricultural practices
Poor hygiene at all stages of the food chain
Lack of preventive controls in food processing
and preparation operations
Misuse of chemicals
Contaminated raw materials, ingredients and
water
Inadequate or improper storage
Food quality
Includes all other attributes that
influence a products value to the
consumer
Food control
A mandatory regulatory activity of enforcement
by national or local authorities
to provide consumer protection and
ensure that all foods during production, handling,
storage, processing, and distribution are
safe, wholesome and fit for human consumption;
conform to safety and quality requirements;
and are honestly and accurately labeled as prescribed by
law
Consumer protection
Will only occur if all sectors in the
entire food chain operate in an
integrated way, and food control
systems address all stages of this
chain
Food control system
No mandatory activity of this nature can
achieve its objectives fully without the
cooperation and active participation of all
stakeholders e.g. farmers, industry, and
consumers
The integration of a mandatory regulatory
approach with preventive and educational
strategies that protect the whole food
chain
Ideal food control system
Effective enforcement of mandatory
requirements
Training and education, community
outreach programmes
Promotion of voluntary compliance
Global considerations
International trade
Codex Alimentarius Commission
SPS and TBT Agreements
Outline
1. Preamble
2. Introduction
3. Important food issues
4. Elements of a national food control system
5. Strengthening national food control system
6. Specific issues of developing countries
Elements of a national food
control system
1. Objectives
2. Scope
3. Building blocks
a) Food law and regulations
b) Food control management
c) Inspection services
d) Laboratory services: food monitoring and
epidemiological data
e) Information, education, communication and training
 Food Safety Objectives ?

To Protect Consumers Health

To Protect Consumers Interests

To Underpin Consumer/Export Confidence

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Objectives of a national food
control system
1. Protecting public health by reducing the risk of
foodborne illness
2. Protecting consumers from unsanitary,
unwholesome, mislabeled or adulterated food
3. Contributing to economic development by
maintaining consumer confidence in the food
system and providing a sound regulatory
foundation for domestic and international trade
in food
Elements of a national food
control system
1. Objectives
2. Scope
3. Building blocks
a) Food law and regulations
b) Food control management
c) Inspection services
d) Laboratory services: food monitoring and
epidemiological data
e) Information, education, communication and training
Scope of food control system
Cover all food produced, processed
and marketed within the country,
including imported food
Have a statutory basis and be
mandatory in nature
 Looking at the whole chain

A national strategy enables a country to develop an integrated

and effective food safety control system and to set consumer
protection priorities and promote economic development.
Prevention efforts have to integrate the full food production
chain: from Farm to Fork,
Most present food safety systems are not built according to
this important principle. This has led to
inconsistency and inefficiency of food
safety systems.

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Elements of a national food
control system
1. Objectives
2. Scope
3. Building blocks
a) Food law and regulations
b) Food control management
c) Inspection services
d) Laboratory services: food monitoring and
epidemiological data
e) Information, education, communication and training
Elements of a national food control system

Food law and regulations

Food control management
Official control services (inspection services)
Food monitoring and epidemiological data
Information and communication and education,
training

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 Government
(Food Control
Authorities) Food Legislation
Inspection
Food Control Management Laboratory
Government provides consumer protection and ensures that Information,
Education,
all foods are fit and safe for human consumption Communication
and Training
Food control system should be
developed and implemented in a
transparent manner

Better Quality and Safer Foods

Food Producer/Industry Consumer
Food producer/Industry is Consumer has a right to select
responsible to produce better better quality and safer foods
quality and safer foods of their choice
Food law and regulation -
approaches
Reactive and Preventive and
enforcement-oriented holistic
Removing unsafe Reducing the risk of
food from commerce foodborne illness
and punishing
responsible parties
after the fact
Food legislation should
1. Provide a high level of health protection
2. Include clear definitions to increase
consistency and legal security
3. Be based on high quality, transparent,
and independent scientific advice
following risk assessment, risk
management and risk communication
 Risk assessment/management
In recent years :
The application of HACCP and risk assessment are
leading to fundamental changes in the approach to
food safety.

On-going :
Governments are undertaking quantitative risk
assessments for specific microbiological hazards in
food, to develop new food safety measures at national
level.
WTO : an additional incentive for RA to be used in a
systematic and transparent manner.

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Food legislation should
4. Include provision for the use of precaution and
the adoption of provisional measures where an
unacceptable level of risk to health has been
identified and where full risk assessment could
not be performed
5. Include provisions for the right of consumers to
have access to accurate and sufficient
information
6. Provide for tracing of food products and for
their recall in case of problems
Food legislation should
7. Include clear provisions indicating that primary
responsibility for food safety and quality rests
with producers and processors
8. Include obligation to ensure that only safe and
fairly presented food is placed on the market
9. Recognize the countrys international
obligations particularly in relation to trade
10. Ensure transparency in the development of
food law and access to information
 Food Industry Role

Food industry taking responsibility for

producing safe food

Moving from culture of compliance to

commitment

Partnership industry associations

Buy-in to QA schemes

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Food control management
Require policy and operational
coordination at the national level
Establishment of a leadership function
Administrative structure with clearly
defined accountability for
Clearly defined accountability
Development and implementation of an integrated
national food control strategy
Operation of a national food control programme
Securing funds and allocating resources
Setting standards and regulations
Participation in international food control related
activities
Developing emergency response procedures
Carrying out risk analysis
Key responsabilities for National government

Food Safety Policies to address consumer health &

interests and facilitate trade.

Resources

Legislation for cooperation between central and local

agencies

Coordination & integration of food control

Risk Assessment/Management

Communication
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Inspection services
1. Inspecting premises and processes for
compliance with hygienic and other
requirements of standards and regulations
2. Evaluating HACCP plans and their
implementation
3. Sampling food during harvest, processing,
storage, transport, or sale
to establish compliance,
to contribute data for risk assessments and
to identify offenders
Inspection services
4. Recognizing different forms of food
decomposition by organoleptic assessment;
identifying food which is unfit for human
consumption; or food which is otherwise
deceptively sold to the consumer; and taking
the necessary remedial action
5. Recognizing, collecting and transmitting
evidence when breaches of law occur, and
appearing in court to assist prosecution
6. Encouraging voluntary compliance in particular
by means of quality assurance procedures
Inspection services
7. Carrying out inspection, sampling and
certification of food for import / export
inspection purposes when so required
8. In establishments working under safety
assurance programmes such as HACCP,
conduct risk based audits
Food monitoring and
epidemiological data
Annual incidence trends
Identification of susceptible population
groups
Identification of hazardous foods
Identification and tracing of causes of
foodborne diseases
Development of early warning systems
for outbreaks and food contamination
New ways of pulling data together - Attributable Fractions
Salmonella Source Account (DK)

Registered human cases

Sero-, phage- & DNA types. Pork (6-8%)
Beef (0.3-0.5%)

Prevalence in food animal

reservoirs Unknown (24-
28%) Table eggs (20-
Sero-, phage- & DNA types. 25%)

Travels (14-18%)
Comparison of types isolated
Broilers (2-4%)
certain types almost
exclusively isolated from Turkeys and
single sources. ducks (5-8%)

Other types ascribed to Imported poultry

Imported pork (4-
6%)
source proportionally to (10-14%) Imported beef (2-
indicative types 4%)

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Using Attributable Fractions in interventions -
Estimated primary sources of human salmonellosis
in Denmark
60,0
Estimated number of cases per 100,000

50,0

40,0

30,0

20,0

10,0

0,0
88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00

Broilers Pork Table eggs

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Information, education,
communication and training
Consumers
Key officials and workers in food industry
Trainers
Extension workers in the agriculture and
health sectors
Food inspectors
Laboratory analysts
 Educational
and
promotional
materials

Available in 27 languages

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Outline
1. Preamble
2. Introduction
3. Important food issues
4. Elements of a national food control system
5. Strengthening national food control system
6. Specific issues of developing countries
Strengthening national food
control systems
1. Principles of food control
2. Developing a national food control strategy
3. Strengthening organizational structures
4. Funding national food control systems
Principles of food control
Maximizing risk reduction by applying
the principle of prevention as fully as
possible throughout the food chain
Addressing the farm-to-table continuum
Establishing emergency procedures for
dealing with particular hazards
Developing science-based food control
strategies
Principles of food control
Establishing priorities based on risk analysis
and efficacy in risk management
Establishing holistic, integrated initiatives
which target risks and impact on economic
wellbeing and
Recognizing that food control is a widely
shared responsibility that requires positive
interaction between all stakeholders
Integrated farm-to-table
concept
It is impossible to provide adequate
protection to the consumer by
merely sampling and analysing the
final product
This calls for a comprehensive and
integrated farm-to-table approach
Reduced risk can be achieved
Prevention throughout the food chain
Food producers and operators are entrusted
with primary responsibility for food safety and
quality
Good practices: GAP, GMP, GHP
HACCP
Government are then responsible for
Auditing performance by monitoring and surveillance
Enforcing legal and regulatory requirements
Shared Responsibility genuine partnerships
Industry

Government Consumer

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Risk analysis
Risk assessment
Risk management
Risk communication
Risk assessment
A scientifically based process
consisting of
Hazard identification
Hazard characterization
Exposure assessment
Risk characterization
Risk management
The process of
Weighing policy alternatives
Selecting appropriate prevention and
control options
Risk communication
The interactive exchange of information
and opinions
Throughout the risk analysis process
Concerning hazards and risks, risk related
factors and risk perceptions
Among risk assessors, risk managers,
consumers, industry, the academic
community and other interested parties
Developing countries
Risk analysis must be the foundation on which food
control policy and consumer protection measures
are based
While not all countries may have sufficient scientific
resources, capabilities or data to carry out risk
assessments, it may not even be necessary in all
cases to generate local data for the purpose
Instead countries should make full use of the
international data and expertise as well as data from
other countries that are consistent with
internationally accepted approaches
Transparency
The confidence of consumers in the safety and
quality of the food supply depends on their
perception of the integrity and effectiveness of
food control operations and activities
It is important that all decision-making
processes are transparent, allow all stakeholders
in the food chain to make effective contributions,
and explain the basis for all decisions
Regulatory impact assessment
Consideration must be given to the costs of
compliance to the food industry, as these costs
are ultimately passed onto consumers
Do the benefits of regulation justify the costs?
What is the most efficient management option?
Regulatory impact assessment (RIA)
Willingness to pay (WTP)
Cost of illness (COI)
Strengthening national food
control systems
1. Principles of food control
2. Developing a national food control strategy
3. Strengthening organizational structures
4. Funding national food control systems
Developing a national strategy
Collection of information
Country profile
Development of strategy
Objectives and priorities
Multi-sectoral inputs
Economic interests
Risk based approach
Areas for voluntary compliance and mandatory action
Human resource and infrastructure
Gradual phasing
The strategy should include
Objectives, plan of action, milestones
Development of legislation, regulation,
standards and codes of practice
Strengthening surveillance and control systems
Promotion of systems ex. HACCP
Development of training
Enhanced research and surveillance
Promotion of consumer education
Strengthening national food
control systems
1. Principles of food control
2. Developing a national food control strategy
3. Strengthening organizational structures
4. Funding national food control systems
Organizational arrangements
Three types of organizational
arrangement that may be
appropriate at the national level
Multiple Agency System
Single Agency System
Integrated System
Multiple agency system
Food control responsibilities are shared
between government ministries
Health, Agriculture, Commerce, Environment,
Trade and Industry, Tourism

May also be fragmented between national,

state and local bodies
Multiple agency system
May be the norm
Drawbacks
Lack of overall coordination at national level
Frequent confusion over jurisdiction and
resultant inefficiencies in performance
Conflict between public health objectives
and the facilitation of trade and industry
development


Limited capacity for appropriate scientific
inputs in decision-making processes
Lack of coherence leading to over-regulation
or time gaps in adequate regulatory activity
Reductions in the confidence of domestic
consumers and foreign buyers in the
credibility of the system
Multi-Disciplinary, Inter-agency
THE TRUTH! Report to
Im not taking Him,
Orders from You must be
Her! joking!

And what
about the job
You agreed to youre paid to
do what do?

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Problem with change

Its Not My Job!

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Multiple agency system
During the preparation of a national food control
strategy, it is important to consider the type and
size of the organization(s) that are necessary to
implement the strategy
It is often not possible to have a single unified
structure or an integrated food control system
due to various historical and political reasons


In such cases, it is necessary for the national
food control strategy to clearly identify the role
of each agency to avoid duplication of effort and
to bring about a measure of coherence among
them
It should also identify areas or segments of the
food chain which require special attention and
need additional resources for strengthening
Single agency system
Consolidation of all responsibility
for protecting public health and food
safety into a single food control
agency with clearly defined terms of
reference
Single agency system
Merit
Acknowledges the high priority and commitment
Benefits
Uniform application of protection measures
Ability to act quickly to protect consumers
Improved cost efficiency and more effective use of
resources and expertise


Harmonization of food standards
Capacity to quickly respond to emerging
challenges and the demands of the domestic
and international marketplace
Provision of more streamlined and efficient
services, benefiting industry and promoting
trade
Single agency system
It is not possible to recommend a single
organizational structure that will
universally meet the requirements and
resources of every country
There are often few opportunities for
countries to build a new food control
system based on a single agency
Integrated system
Levels of operation of food control
system
1. Formulation of policy, risk assessment and
management, and development of standards
and regulations
2. Coordination of food control activity,
monitoring, and auditing
3. Inspection, and enforcement
4. Education and training
Integrated system
Establishment of an autonomous
national food agency which is
responsible for activities at levels 1
and 2, with existing multi-sectoral
agencies retaining responsibility for
level 3 and 4 activities
Integrated system
Advantages
Provides coherence in the national food control
system
Politically more acceptable as it does not disturb the
day to day inspection and enforcement role of other
agencies
Promotes uniform application of control measures
across the whole food chain throughout the country


Separates risk assessment and risk management
functions, resulting in objective consumer protection
measures with resultant confidence among domestic
consumers and credibility with foreign buyers
Better equipped to deal with international dimensions
of food control such as participation in work of
Codex, follow-up on SPS/TBT Agreements, etc
Encourage transparency in decision-making process,
and accountability in implementation
Is more cost-effective in long term
Integrated system
Role of a competent, autonomous agency
Establish national food control goals
Put into effect the strategic and operational activities
necessary to achieve those goals
Other functions
Revising and updating the national food control strategy
Advising relevant ministerial officials on policy matters,
including determination of priorities and use of resources
Drafting regulations, standards and codes of practice and
promoting their implementation


Coordinating the activity of the various inspection
agencies, and monitoring performance
Developing consumer education and community
outreach initiatives and promoting their
implementation
Supporting research and development
Establishing quality assurance schemes for industry
and supporting their implementation
Strengthening national food
control systems
1. Principles of food control
2. Developing a national food control strategy
3. Strengthening organizational structures
4. Funding national food control systems
Funding national food control
systems
Securing sufficient resources
Cost recovery
Outline
1. Preamble
2. Introduction
3. Important food issues
4. Elements of a national food control system
5. Strengthening national food control system
6. Specific issues of developing countries
Specific issues of developing
countries
1. Food systems
2. Food processing industry
3. Street foods
4. Food control infrastructure and
resources
5. Technical assistance: role of
international agencies
Food systems
Food production, processing, and
marketing systems are complex, large
quantities of food pass through a
multitude of food handlers and
middlemen
Majority of food producers and handlers
lack appropriate knowledge and expertise,
not able to cope with new environmental
and food safety risks
Food control infrastructure
and resources
Tends to be inadequate, due to
limited resources and often poor
management
Lack of scientific resources